Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

Crossover Prog • United Kingdom


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Servants Of Science picture
Servants Of Science biography
A British rock combo SERVANTS OF SCIENCE were founded in Brighton when a guitarist Stuart AVIS presented a keyboardist Andy BAY, who had played music with Stuart on and off for 20 years, with some keyboard ideas to add guitar to. They had worked in bands with a drummer Adam McKEE for about 20 years too, and there was no suspicion they tired to go forward together. Stuart and Andy invited Neil BEARDS and Helena DeLUCA to singers for their ideas of the debut album, "The Swan Song", released in December 2017 finally.

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Videos (YouTube and more)


Showing only random 3 | Search and add more videos to SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

Buy SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Music


SERVANTS OF SCIENCE discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.83 | 11 ratings
The Swan Song
2017

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
Another Day (The Swan Song: Live)
2018

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 The Swan Song by SERVANTS OF SCIENCE album cover Studio Album, 2017
3.83 | 11 ratings

BUY
The Swan Song
Servants Of Science Crossover Prog

Review by BrufordFreak
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars A new band of prog veterans from Brighton, UK, presenting us with a concept album that sounds a lot like THE FLAMING LIPS with lots of reminders from bands like PINK FLOYD, THE CHURCH, Hawkwind, Eloy, The Enid, Nektar, and Babylon. The album tries to present the story of a man in space who witnesses the "end of the world."

1. "Another Day" (5:35) cymbal crashes and thick, multiple layers of Mellotron open this one. Things quiet down at 1:20 for the entrance of STEVE KILBEY/ROBERT SMITH-like voice to start singing over some spacey keys and delicate guitar picking/strumming. Each verse is bridged by return to full 'tron. Nice vintage sound--reminding me of Ft. Lauderdale band BABYLON's 1979 debut album. Simple yet impressive. (9/10)

2. "Kaleidoscope" (3:43) electric piano, spacey synth incidentals, and gentle electric guitar strums back the STEVE KILBEY/ROBERT SMITH-like singer for the first verse until Mellotron and synths and heavily-effected drums join in for the chorus. The second chorus flows into an instrumental section that incorporates recordings of human communications from space with eerie incidentals. Nice. (8.5/10)

3. "Tedium Infinitum" (4:08) setting up as a kind of FLAMING LIPS/80s pop song ("Hold Me Now" by the Thompson Twins) with an appropriate female lead vocal from Helena DeLuca. She sounds a lot like singer Malkah Spigel from the 1980s Belgium-based Israeli band MINIMAL COMPACT. Not enough surprises in the song development for my tastes. (7.5/10)

4. "Peripheral" (8:37) opens with slow chord bounces from electric piano and synth supporting a DANIEL ASH (Love and Rockets, Bauhaus)-like vocal. Overall it's a very FLAMING LIPS/ROGER WATERS-sounding song. The occasional appearance by a Robert-Fripp-like guitar note excites and draws attention but never really goes anywhere after its initial slide up the fretboard. There is a shift at 5:20 in which the band moves into an uptempo straight-time rock beat while multiple guitars, tuned percussion, and synths jam along until the "How will you fall from here" chorus returns around 6:40. Solid crossover prog song. The final minute has the music fall away as distorted electric guitar plays a few rounds of a single chord with arpeggios. (8/10)

5. "Servants of Science" (5:48) here--including the voice! Opens with chimes before "cello" synth sound enters and settles into the background while guitar notes are picked and eerie saw-like synth move into foreground. A multi- voiced Polyphonic Spree-like choral voices enter at the 1:15 mark, surprising me. Nice. At 1:50 the song bursts into a section that is pure ROGER WATERS/PINK FLOYD. The vocal is very forceful (and angry?) The music returns to calm between first and second Waters-like vocal verses. Screaming lead electric guitar and synth-generated orchestral strings enter to support an instrumental section. By 5:20, the anger and force is spent and guitar arpeggi and lead notes turn soft, somber, and sad. Cool song! Clever/creative. (9/10)

6. "Epilogue_Prologue" (3:57) kind of continues the spacious, soft, somber, thought-provoking section from the previous song as recorded voice from 1950s American radio/television broadcast RE birth of the Atomic Age plays. Neil's KILBEY-like voice takes a turn singing before exiting for cool human-voice-aided spacey section finished off with another old voice recording and "explosion"-like sound before radiowave sounds fill the sonicscape. Great song--truly in the same vein as THE FLAMING LIPS' Yoshimi. (9/10)

7. "Burning in the Cold" (10:00) opening with softly strummed electric guitar chords over which DOROCCAS-like voice eventually joins in during the beginning of the second minute. At 1:50 mark synth flute leads just before drums, bass, and rest of band join in. Band pauses mid-fourth minute for an interlude of organ, synth French horn, voice samples and other random industrial and post-apocalyptic incidental sounds. At 5:15 we're back to the opening sounds and pace. At 5:50 a cymbal crash leads into a Mellotron-drenched section with full rock band support over which Neil sings with the emotion of a pissed off Roger Waters. This is then followed by a solid rock guitar solo before we break into a very gentle, airy choral sing of "to the sun, come along" which then repeats to the final minute--which plays out like the droning hum of a large turbine engine. Perfect PINK FLOYD send off. (8.5/10)

So the question is: Is this album more similar to THE FLAMING LIPS, PINK FLOYD, or THE CHURCH? I have no vested opinion in any of the cited sound-alikes. I do, however, truly enjoy and appreciate the choice of album theme and the way it is presented. High marks for this. I will say that I think the sound engineering and production could have been of a higher quality--though I did enjoy the retro-sounds that this album harkens back to, my standards remain snobbishly high--especially with the technologies so readily available in this the 21st Century.

Four stars; a solid contribution to prog world and a welcome addition to the space/psychedelic subgenre.

Thanks to dAmOxT7942 for the artist addition.

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.